I'd like to test one of these units.  It seems that the design is  based on 
the concepts that mites use gravity/cell orientation to choose  where to 
lay their eggs, and that swarm cells don't develop due to changes in  
orientation.
 
The latter is the reason I asked about brood survival rates - if you've  
ever picked caps off of older pupae, you'll see that ALL of the pupae are  
oriented in the same direction.
 
So, if these are developing properly, despite the rotation, then I see no  
reason why Queen cells would be a special case.  They are usually  already 
rotated 90 degrees from the normal cell position - which in  itself implies 
orientation isn't particularly important.
 
What I can't find is any data from trials indicating whether  either of 
these notions are true.  Might be, might not be, no reason to not  keep an open 
mind until one sees test results.  If it works, its  still probably too 
complicated and expensive for commercial beekeepers, but  it might find a niche 
market with smaller scale beekeepers.
 
Someone must have been confident that this works and that there is a market 
 - it is not cheap to scale up to commercialization.  Note that the first  
reports show pictures of round wooden brood frames, whereas the distributor  
shows plastic frames and even plastic beehives.  On the other hand, its not 
 uncommon to see ideas presented in the mode of - if I imagine it, it must 
be  true.
 
The URL's indicate that this came out of some Hungarian research - implying 
 that there was some R&D behind these notions.  Sure would like to see  the 
papers. 
 
I'm still fascinated by the pictures of the brood nests and honey  rings.  
Just shows once again how flexible bee behavior is - obviously  brood frames 
don't rotate in nature.  Nor do trees get up and move.   Yet, we move hives 
all the time and the bees cope.
 
Jerry
 
 
 
 
 
 

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